Fraiche

I went to lunch with a couple of coworkers to Fraiche. Fraiche is a fancier restaurant right by my office, but have some decent deals for lunch and happy hour. We went to the location in Santa Monica. There is also a location in Culver City. The lunch menu features several other sandwiches and some entrees that sound delicious but are a little pricy for lunch. Overall, this is a great location for a good meal and probably more of a business lunch location.

The burger is called a the Truffle Burger. It is served on a brioche like bun. It is not overly buttery and is a little lighter than most. One issue I had is they toasted the bun a little too much so I tasted charred. The meat seemed like it was freshly ground, had very good flavor. It was also cooked to a perfect medium. The burger came topped with boshetto cheese and what they call onion fondue. The onions were sweet and the cheese was a little understated. Now you wonder why its called the Truffle Burger, because it also comes topped with a truffle aioli. The aioli was very creamy and a little earthy but not overly flavorful. Overall it is a good burger, but I am assuming the other entrees are a better bet at Fraiche.

The Curious Palate

Merry New Year! (Sorry big Trading Places fan). Its been a little while since my last post. I have been on a burger fast for a little bit due to the holidays. I feel some good burger vibes for 2012.

For the first burger of 2012, I went to The Curious Palate (@curious_palate) at Santa Monica Place with my department from work. It is located in the Marketplace on the third floor. Them menu is full of fresh salads, sandwiches and comfort food. There isn’t a ton of seating in the restaurant, but there were many people getting their food to go and eating out on the patio. If it is a nice day out I would recommend this tact.

On to the burger. The patty was think and juicy. It had decent flavor but was a little overcooked and couldn’t match the burgers at the top of the list. The bun was the standard brioche bun. It had good texture but kind of fell apart as it got soaked with the juice from the patty. It came topped with gruyere cheese, baby greens, tomato, red onion, and house made pickles. Everything was fresh and crisp. The last aspect of the burger were the two sauces. The first is a homemade aioli. I am usually a fan of a homemade aioli, but it was hard to taste over the other sauce. Luckily, the other sauce, a tomato jam, was really good. It was a little tangy and almost had an Italian flavor to it. If your are in the Santa Monica area and want to have a good burger outside on a nice day, I can think of worse places to go.

M Street Kitchen

I met up with some friends and coworkers for dinner after work and we decided to check out M Street Kitchen. This used to be La Grande Orange. The menu seemed to be the same. There is a variety of items from sushi to fried chicken to burgers.

Speaking of burgers, I ordered the cheeseburger. It comes on a typical sesame seed bun. The meat is house ground all natural beef. It wasn’t overly flavorful and a little bit on the small side. The meat flavor did not come through as with other burgers I have tried. It comes topped with lettuce, onions, pickles, tomatoes and Russian dressing. Finally, it was topped with shredded cheddar cheese. The cheese wasn’t fully melted and tasted almost cold. Overall I was a little disappointed as everything else on the menu seemed so flavorful and fresh.

Townhouse

Townhouse is a newer restaurant in the Sherman Oaks Galleria. Although I had a couple of bad experiences when it first opened, I had to give it a few more chances as it is a great spot. It has a lounge/gastropub. There are plenty of beers on tap and a very cool bar area where you can watch a game or just hangout.Best of all, they started $5 burgers every Tuesday and $3 brewery of the month beers. That’s $8 dollars for a burger and beer. Not a bad deal at all.

On to the burger. I ordered the Townhouse burger. It comes on a brioche bun. It was good and not overly greasy, which is a pet peeve of mine. The meat came in two different thin patties. This was probably the worst part of the burger. I wish they would have ground the amount of meat used for both patties together into one because it would have been juicier than the two smaller patties. It came topped with goat cheese, arugula, tomato, red onion and pickles. It usually comes with mushrooms, but if you are regular reader you would know that I am not a big fan of mushrooms so I did not get them on the burger. Overall, I was a little disappointed in the dryness in the meat but will probably go back as the deal is too good to pass up and it is a great location and atmosphere.
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L.A. Buns

I used to live in West Hollywood. I am man enough to admit this. While I lived there I was fortunate to live next to one of the best car wash places in the city. But more importantly on the corner next to the car wash is a hidden gem called L.A. Buns. This is a cash only shack serving burgers, hot dogs and Mexican food. There were plenty of football Saturday and Sundays were it was very easy to go grab something from the corner rather than cook. Apparently I am on a standard burger run here. It is hard to judge these against the gourmet burgers as the quality of meat is so different. Sometimes you need to eat quick and cheap.

Without any further ado, on to the meat. This is one of my favorite standard burgers. It comes on a standard sesame bun. The meat is cooked on a griddle and is always juicy and seasoned with seasoning salt. The best part about this burger is that they do not skimp on the toppings. It comes with iceberg lettuce, pickles, diced onions, tomato and a slathering of 1000 island dressing. I hadn’t eaten there in a couple of years, which ment that I had to take a bite before taking a picture, but it still lived up to its billing. One of the best standard burgers around.

Hamburger Habit

A coworker mentioned Hamburger Habit to me a little while ago and I finally got out to try it. I normally review high-end burgers making this review a little difficult. This place is an icon in West LA. It seems like it is straight out of the 50’s. It had the red and white color scheme and crazy pictures and news articles on the walls.

On to the burger. These are simple burgers. You  can choose additional toppings like lettuce, tomato, cheese and chili. I got “The Big Scene”, which comes with lettuce, tomato and dressing. I ordered it without tomato. The bun was a standard sesame seed bun that was lightly toasted on the griddle. The patty were thin and browned on the outside but still juicy. Overall it was a really good standard burger. Better than any fast food burger or chain restaurant burger out there. I also got the chili fries. The fries were very crispy and the chili was very meaty and flavorful. My one objection was that they over salted the fries causing the whole thing to be a bit too salty.

Pretzel Burger

I didn’t have a new place to review for this so I figured I might try something of my own. One of my specialties has become making soft pretzels. I was making soft pretzels for a family function and decided to save some of the dough and make it into a hamburger bun. I have always enjoyed pretzels and love a good pretzel burger.

I used 80/20 ground beef seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Worcestershire sauce. I grilled the patty and toasted the pretzel bun on the grill as well. I didn’t have any lettuce but topped the burger with pickle, red onions and brown mustard.

I definitely got the taste of the meat first with the crunch of the pickles and the onions. Then the saltiness and the the pretzel flavor really comes through. Overall it was a very good creation and something I will have to try again in the future.